Cornish brokerage firm welcomes energy sector investigation
A Cornish energy firm has welcomed a full competition investigation into the energy sector, which aims to ensure a “simpler, clearer and fairer” market for consumers.
Ofgem this week announced that it had referred the energy market to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for a full investigation.
The watchdog said: “An investigation should ensure, once and for all, that competition works effectively for consumers, by bearing down on prices while driving improvements in customer service and innovation.
“It will also help provide the confidence that is needed for investment in the energy sector and complement Ofgem’s recent reforms to make the market simpler, clearer and fairer for consumers.”
Reacting to the news, Kathryn Young, finance director for Cornish energy broker Total Energy Solutions, said: “We welcome today’s announcement of a full market investigation of domestic energy providers.
“Whilst their investigation seems to be in the domestic sector only, many businesses are also perplexed by the complexity of the business energy market and are paying more than they need to. We believe the complete transparency we give our clients with costs and tariffs should be standard across the industry.”
The investigation is expected to run for a period of 18 months. Ofgem first announced its plans to run a full investigation back in March this year.
A recent assessment of the energy market, prepared by Ofgem with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and CMA, showed that competition isn’t working as well as it should for consumers. It showed increasing distrust of energy suppliers, uncertainty about the relationship between the supply businesses and the generation arms of the six largest suppliers, and rising profits with no clear evidence of suppliers reducing their own costs or becoming better at meeting customer expectations.
For further information on Ofgem’s announcement: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk//press-releases/ofgem-refers-energy-market-full...
